Obama to face down Republicans days after healthcare reform repeal vote

President Obama will face down Republicans who voted to
repeal his signature legislative achievement Tuesday during the State of the
Union address.

The speech gives Obama his most visible chance to defend the
healthcare reform law less than a week after the House repeal vote.

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Facing a new Republican majority in the House, Obama faces a
pivotal choice: He can criticize Republicans for repealing the law or extend an
olive branch across the aisle.

Statements from Democratic lawmakers and administration
officials, as well as the president himself, suggest Obama will try to strike a
middle ground.

They have cast the White House as open to tweaking the law
to improve it, but insistent that the nation cannot take a step into the past
by getting rid of the controversial law.

“I hope that we can work together around some areas where
the bill can be improved, or we certainly make it better, but recognize that
this is the new platform,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius told The Hill in a sit-down interview.

Obama may have given a preview into his Tuesday night
healthcare message this week when he said he is “willing and eager” to work
with both parties to “improve” the reform law.

“But we can’t go backward,” Obama said. “Americans
deserve the freedom and security of knowing that insurance companies can’t
deny, cap or drop their coverage when they need it the most, while taking
meaningful steps to curb runaway healthcare costs.”

Obama shouldn’t stray far from that message Tuesday night,
House Democratic leaders said this week.

“We are going to revisit this healthcare bill many, many
times before it gets to where it ought to be,” Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.), the
House’s third-ranking Democrat, said Thursday at the House Democratic retreat
in Cambridge, Md. “So I’m sure the president can lay out a litany of things
that we can do to this bill right away in a bipartisan way.”

Congressional Democrats have spent the past few weeks
playing up the law’s many consumer protections, which have given them ample
opportunity to scold Republicans for trying to strip those away in their repeal
efforts.

Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (Conn.) this week
labeled the party’s mantra on healthcare as “implement and improve.”

Ron Pollack, director of pro-reform Families USA, said Obama
will likely try look to the future of healthcare reform instead of fighting old
battles.

“I'm sure he will say that while he's open to ideas from
people to strengthen and improve on the Affordable Care Act, that repealing the
legislation or efforts to undermine it are not things that he's going to allow
to happen,” Pollack said.